bob

It looked almost computer-generated, but: http://images.travelpod.com/users... - Tim Tyler

"Chinese chefs have come up with a way to keep a fish alive while deep frying it! It even keeps trying to breathe while waiting to be eaten and people pick at it!" "In order to keep the carp alive chefs cook its body but wrap its head in a wet cloth to keep it breathing, before covering it in sauce and serving in on a plate."- im not an expert on fish anatomy but it seems like having the bottom 2/3 of your body fried would probably be fatal for the top 1/3 - think its real? - bob from Bookmarklet

http://www.youtube.com/watch... - Peng-Toh

"Sodium layer refers to a layer within the Earth's mesosphere of unbound, non-ionized atoms of sodium. The altitude of this layer is usually located between 80–105 km (50–65 miles) and has a depth of about 5 km (3 miles). Atmospheric sodium below this layer is normally chemically-bound in compounds such as sodium oxide, while above the layer the atoms tend to be ionized. Atoms of sodium in this layer are typically in an excited state, and radiate weakly at a wavelengths around 589 nm, which is in the yellow portion of the spectrum. These radiation bands are known as the sodium D lines. The resulting radiation has been termed night glow." - bob from Bookmarklet

"The sodium originates from the ablation of meteors. " http://www.albany.edu/faculty... - bob

Dream big. - Mark Alves

Or die suffocating. :) - Space Cowboy

yeah that's kind of sad, but also a bit funny too... evolution at work i guess - Chris Heath

Animals are evolving into concrete? - Nick Lothian

What was she chasing? - April Buchheit

Looks like a shot of the Tacoma Narrows bridge after its famous 'twisting death'. - Akiva Moskovitz

A love-struck buck ran out of luck a week ago. The seven-point buck was killed when it rammed a 640-pound concrete statue of an elk in the backyard of Mark and Carol Brye's home in rural Viroqua....Brye said he knew exactly what happened when he saw the statue tipped over. Although they were about the same height, the statue weighed at least three times more than the 180-pound deer. He didn't realize the buck lay dead a short distance away. "I could tell the buck poked the statue a couple of times by the chipped paint on it," Brye said, adding that the buck eventually rammed it like a mountain goat. The buck apparently staggered about 20 feet and fell. Brye claimed the buck with a tag from the Vernon County conservation warden. He laughed at the warden's tag note: "lawn ornament fight - lost." - bob from Bookmarklet

for some reason the image didnt get through, click on link to see - bob

"You looking at me? Yeah you! you looking at me punk? I'll teach you to look at me that way!" Famous last words. - Ras - Dago-Baadass! of FF

"It doesn't look like much from the outside—just a drab, 10-story building on the campus of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, about an hour's drive east of San Francisco....But the reason the building we're in is so huge—it covers the area of three football fields—is that it contains an enormous laser, or actually a system that combines 192 identical lasers and zaps them into a round chamber, about 30 feet in diameter, where the tiny pellet of fuel awaits the blast. NIF's laser, which took a decade to build and was completed earlier this year, can produce 60 times more energy than any other laser ever built. Right now it's still being tested. But next year Moses and his scientists will fire it up with a full load of deuterium-tritium fuel, and Moses feels confident it will achieve "ignition," meaning a controlled burn in which you get out more energy than you put in." - bob from Bookmarklet

i think he shouldve bowed the other direction, then lifted his kilt like braveheart :P - bob from Bookmarklet

The GOP will say he bowed too low. - Kevin Fox from iPhone

Nobody will ever stoop as low as Bush did - Tim Ostler

"So far the elusive blogger, from the small rural town of Lagoa da Prata in Minas Gerais state, has posted the names of 300 supposed cuckolds on the popular social networking site Orkut...."The military police are advising people to stay calm," said Lieutenant Marcondes Couto, from Lagoa da Prata's police force. "We are investigating and we will catch this criminal. Justice will be done." Civil police in Lagoa da Prata, a former goldmining town located about 120 miles from the state capital, Belo Horizonte, said that they had questioned one suspect this week after he was caught on camera leaving a copy of "The List" in a local bank. A study in 2004 by a leading Brazilian psychiatrist claimed that Minas Gerais state had one of the country's highest rates of infidelity among women. Nearly 30% of the women interviewed admitted to having had an "extra" relationship." - bob from Bookmarklet

I'm curious about the photo accompanying the post. This blogger must be spreading explosive rumors! - John (a.k.a. dendroica)

"The discovery came from an analysis of data from a spacecraft NASA intentionally crashed into the moon last month. Colaprete estimated the impact kicked up at least 25 gallons of water." - bob from Bookmarklet

""Production peaked around 2000 and it has been in decline ever since, and we forecast that decline to continue. It is increasingly difficult to find ore," he said. Ore grades have fallen from around 12 grams per tonne in 1950 to nearer 3 grams in the US, Canada, and Australia. South Africa's output has halved since peaking in 1970." - bob from Bookmarklet

Why I am skeptical that this is an attempt to pump up gold prices? It seems all over radio and TV, they are trying to sell gold to people by scaring them about inflation and budget deficits and economic downturn. Glenn Beck is pimping gold like mad. :) - Ray Cromwell

gold bubble - Ňicķ

"rock was only 23ft across. Similar sized objects pass by this close to Earth about twice a year and impact on the planet about once every five years. Astronomers believe the object, called 2009 VA, would have almost completely burned up while entering Earth's atmosphere, causing a brilliant fireball in the sky but no major damage to the surface...Its orbit brought it 30 times nearer than the Moon, which is 250,000 miles away." - bob from Bookmarklet

Underground bunkers++. Just sayin. - Private Sanjeev

OMG, ASTEROID BARELY MISSES EARTH, AND WE DIDN'T SEE IT COMING!!!... well, actually, it was but a pebble, utterly benign and harmless, and kinda, sorta happens all the time. Thanks for reading! - Phil Essing

"The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) recorded the Captain excusing himself to go to the bathroom, followed thirty seconds later by the First Officer saying, "I rely on God." A minute later, the autopilot was disengaged, immediately followed by the First Officer again saying, "I rely on God." Three seconds later, the throttle for both engines was reduced to zero, and both elevators were moved three degrees, nose down. The First Officer repeated "I rely on God" six more times before the Captain is suddenly heard to ask repeatedly, "What's happening, what's happening?" The flight data recorder reflected that the Captain then commanded the nose up while the First Officer commanded the nose down, at the same time as the engines were shut down. The Captain asked, "What is this? What is this? Did you shut the engines?" There were no other aircraft in the area. There was no indication that an explosion occurred on board. The engines operated normally for the entire flight until they were shut down. The left engine was subsequently torn from the wing from the stress of the maneuvers." - bob from Bookmarklet

This brought to mind what I read in _The Invisible Kingdom_ last week: "How can an infantry force move, however slowly, through a very hostile, very crowded urban area without exposing itself to enemy fire? The military solution was simple, brutal, and effective: Move through the walls...Listeria employs the same method: Instead of risking exposure to hostile immune force, the... more... - Ruchira S. Datta

The book is very well-written and entertaining, by the way. - Ruchira S. Datta

"making a big-screen biopic of the prophet Muhammad. Budgeted at around $150m (£91.5m), the film will chart Muhammad's life and examine his teachings. Osborne told Reuters that he envisages it as "an international epic production aimed at bridging cultures.....In accordance with Islamic law, the prophet will not actually be depicted on screen." - bob from Bookmarklet

Yes Gabe. It's a steam punk film - Becca

"The latest surge came a day after the International Monetary Fund announced it sold 200 tonnes of gold to India's central bank over a two-week period last month for a total of 6.7 billion dollars to bolster its finances. The IMF said the transaction, which was in the process of being settled, involved daily sales that were phased over a two-week period during October 19-30. A senior IMF official said that the IMF was "lucky" in selling the 200 tonnes to India for roughly 1,045 dollars an ounce. The deal represented around half the IMF's planned sale of its gold reserves." - bob from Bookmarklet

Shock, surprise, how unexpected. What could possibly happen next?, he wondered. - Alex Scrivener

Voracek found that "higher feminized" digit ratio in men correlated with stronger paranormal and superstitious beliefs, "even when controlled for age, education, adult height and weight, and birth length and weight." "Shorter feminized" digit ratios in women also correlated with a greater likelihood of superstitious beliefs, as did a woman's lighter weight at birth. For both sexes, shorter body length at birth was associated with later beliefs in superstitions and the paranormal. The findings help to support the conclusions of Kia Aarnio and Marjaana Lindeman, both University of Helsinki psychologists who have extensively studied the propensity for paranormal and superstitious beliefs. They found that women are much more likely to have such beliefs, which the researchers attribute to "higher intuitiveness and lower analytical thinking." Based on the recent study, it now appears that men born with at least one feminine-associated characteristic may have greater intuitiveness as well, possibly explaining why these men, like some women, are more inclined to hold paranormal and superstitious beliefs. - bob from Bookmarklet

"cemented" seems like the wrong word. It's kind of like saying that someone's profession is cemented before birth. - Paul Buchheit

"The average silver content of milk from different cities across the United States in 1968 varied between 0.027 and 0.054 ppm." - bob from Bookmarklet

"Nearly twice the height of the spaceship it's supposed to replace — the shuttle — the skinny experimental rocket carried no passengers or payload, only throwaway ballast and hundreds of sensors. The flight cost $445 million....It was the first time in nearly 30 years that a new rocket took off from Kennedy Space Center. Columbia made the maiden voyage for the shuttle fleet back in 1981....The ballistic flight did not come close to reaching space and, as expected, lasted a mere two minutes. That's how long it took for the first-stage solid-fuel booster to burn out and separate from the mock upper stage 25 miles up. But it will take months to analyze all the data from the approximately 725 pressure, strain and acceleration sensors. Parachutes popped open and dropped the booster into the Atlantic, where recovery ships waited. The upper portion of the rocket — all fake parts — were hurtled to an estimated altitude of 28 miles and then fell uncontrolled into the ocean. Those pieces were never meant to be retrieved. It was all over in six minutes." - bob from Bookmarklet

On 8 October an asteroid detonated high in the atmosphere above South Sulawesi, Indonesia, releasing about as much energy as 50,000 tons of TNT, according to a NASA estimate released on Friday. That's about three times more powerful than the atomic bomb that levelled Hiroshima, making it one of the largest asteroid explosions ever observed....The amount of energy released suggests the object was about 10 metres across, the researchers say. Such objects are thought to hit Earth about once per decade. http://www.youtube.com/watch... - bob from Bookmarklet

"Energy company Consolidated Edison and technology firm American Superconductor have signed an agreement to test a prototype power line as a step towards upgrading the power grid in New York. Under a project called Project Hydra, a power line could connect two substations in Manhattan using high-temperature superconducting cabling by 2010. The power lines developed by American Superconductor consist of several individual superconducting cables wrapped around a central tube filled with liquid nitrogen. This liquid nitrogen cools the cables until they experience zero electrical resistance, which allows them to carry up to 10 times more power than copper cabling of the same size." - bob from Bookmarklet

Just make sure you cut the power *before* the temp gets above -230C! - Gabe

? - Paul Buchheit